


Braided With Love

by animatedstardust



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV 2020)
Genre: Alex Mercer Has A Sibling (Julie and The Phantoms), Alex Mercer Needs a Hug (Julie and The Phantoms), Braids, F/M, Flower Crowns, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Good Friend Julie Molina, Hair Braiding, Light Angst, M/M, Soft Reggie Peters (Julie and The Phantoms)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-19
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-15 12:13:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29558925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/animatedstardust/pseuds/animatedstardust
Summary: Julie's had a rough day at school, but she comes home to the boys starting a braid circle; it spirals from there in the best way.Some Willex, some Juke, and some past Boggie if you reeeally squint. :)
Relationships: Alex Mercer & Julie Molina & Luke Patterson & Reggie Peters, Alex Mercer/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Julie Molina/Luke Patterson
Comments: 9
Kudos: 132





	Braided With Love

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this in the span of two hours and only briefly looked through it. Unbeta-ed. Enjoy 💜. (If you see a typo, roast me, cowards. /lh /hj)

Julie had just gotten home from school; a math test, a new music assignment, and an English presentation all in the same day? Ugh. At least Flynn was there to suffer through it with her.

Right now, what Julie needed was whatever the complete opposite of school was. Maybe some jamming with the band.

"Dad, I'm heading down to the garage for a while!" she called up the stairs.

"Sure thing Julie," said Ray, "just remember to finish your homework!"

"Will do!"

She made her way to the studio, briefly pausing to drop her bookbag at the door, only to stop as soon as she glanced up at the scene in the studio.

"Hiya Jules!" said Reggie. He sat in front of Alex, who was… braiding his hair? And currently smacking his shoulder to get Reggie to stay still. Leaning against the piano a few yards away, Luke beamed at her arrival.

”Hey Angel," he said.

Julie smiled bemusedly back. "What's up, guys?"

Alex, without turning away from his work, responded: "Well, it was going to be a braid circle, but for some reason I'm the only one who actually knows how to braid." He blew a stray hair from his eyes. "So, here we are."

"If I may; why?" asked Julie.

Luke slid over to the couch, jolting the other boys and nearly toppling over several pillows. "That's what I said! I mean, I'm all for band bonding, but why hair braiding? I'm, like, at least eighty percent sure my hair is too short for it anyways."

"Actually," Julie mused, easing over to the couch as well, "I could probably give you a braid crown."

Alex muttered something about finally not being the only one with common sense, and for a moment, Julie was content to watch him expertly weave Reggie's hair into a french braid. He must have done this a hundred times before from how he did it seemingly without thought. Speaking of which-

"Where did you learn to do that, Alex?" Julie asked.

So fast she almost missed it, Alex slumped over, his hands dropping from the braid before straightening again as quickly as they'd fallen. Luke looked up from where he'd settled beside Julie, eyebrows furrowing as he followed Alex's movement with a new vigor.

"I, uh," started Alex; "I had a little sister. Not so little anymore, I guess." He chuckled lightly, but it was easy to see he was shaken. "She liked to have 'fancy hair' so she could be a princess, but it had to be out of the way because she tended to get in messes a lot." He sniffed, gripping Reggie's half finished braid with one hand to dab at his eye with a hoodie paw.

"Oh my gosh, I am so sorry-"

"No, it's okay." Alex started back on Reggie's hair. "I'm almost done with this, why don't you try doing Luke's? I'm sure he won't complain as much if it's you doing it." He still didn't look stellar, but they all needed a break after the Orpheum ordeal last week, so Julie let it go for the time being.

While she attempted a crown on Luke, Alex finished off Reggie's hair and started one winding braid around Julie's head.

"I learned from my mom, first," she said. "It's a tad different to do with curly hair, so it took a bit to learn." Julie took a deep breath, faux cursing under her breath when she messed up. "I learned to do new braids on Carrie whenever we had sleepovers 'cause her hair was so easy to manipulate. Of course, it's been a while since I've done something that style." She trailed off, refocusing on the task at hand.

The couch was getting crowded, so after grabbing his bass, Reggie moved to a chair and Luke bounced over to a fallen pillow, leaning against Reggie's leg with his acoustic to watch Alex work after his girlfriend finished his braid.

"Done," he said after a couple minutes of music and chatting. Julie spun around to thank him with a hug, both of them taking a second longer than strictly necessary to savor the newfound comfort. 

A long whistle sounded through the studio, and Julie turned to Luke to see a soft smile.

"Well aren't you the wicked beauty," he said. Reggie playfully swatting at his head did nothing to dissuade Luke's heart eyes.

He set aside his guitar, got up, and spun his girlfriend around until Julie caught a bad case of the giggles. He really did have the nicest smile.

"Well, well, well, what have we here?"

Luke dropped Julie's hand as they all looked to the door, where, lol and behold, stood… a guy?

Long hair, cool jacket, skateboard- wait, skateboard? It must've been Willie, then; Alex had certainly gushed over the ghost enough.

"Willie!" said Alex. Aha, so it was him! 

"Hey, hotdog." An easy smirk graced Willie's face as he scanned the room, giving a chill wave to the rest of the band even as Alex rushed over to him for a hug. They really were the cutest yet-to-be couple Julie'd ever seen.

With another glance at Julie, Willie said, "I thought it was about time I met the mysterious Julie I keep hearing about, but if you have something going on--" he gestured vaguely at their braids-- "I could come back later."

Oh, no way was Julie missing the opportunity to tease Alex after weeks of him and Reggie poking fun at her and Luke. 

"Of course you can stay! In fact," she said, "I was about to start on Alex's braid. We could start up a train if you're cool with him doing yours."

Willie shifted his weight, putting down his skateboard, and replied, "If I'm not intruding, then why not. You up for it, hotdog?"

Alex laughed and scratched the back of his head. "Heh, are you sure, Willie? I'm not that good-"

"You're kidding, right? Look at this! Look at this!" Reggie pranced to the middle of the room and did a little spin. "I haven't even seen it and I know it's amazing." He very obviously winked at Alex; Willie and Luke had to stifle a chuckle. Julie's boys were ridiculous, but she wouldn't change them for the world.

They settled on the floor to all sit together. Willie chatted and joined the band's dynamic without a sweat, and even as Alex took a minute or so to get into the groove of his braid, his flustered vibe never fully went away. It was kind of cute.

"I would offer to do someone else's," said Willie, "but it looks like you've got that covered already."

"Oh come on," said Luke. "Does everyone know how to braid hair but us?" Julie had to grab Alex's unfinished braid with one hand to keep from ruining it because of her sudden giggles. Luke's pout was just too much!

Soon, they all descended into laughter. Reggie and Luke had fallen on to each other and the pillows were a fair bit more scattered than they were a second ago. Even Willie ended up leaning backwards onto Alex's lap. That settled it, they were definitely the cutest couple Julie had ever seen.

"How long have you two been together, anyways?" she asked.

Alex bolted up from where he'd been laying; "I- we- I mean-"

"About two weeks," said Willie, cool as a cucumber. "Right, Alex?"

Reggie's head was bobbing back and forth between the two like it was a tennis match. Luke raised a brow at Julie, who merely shrugged. It was about time they made it official, as much as Alex stressed about it to her. Speaking of whom, Alex was definitely going to kill her for this later.

"Um, yeah, yes, definitely," he agreed. "But, uh, since when?"

Willie laughed; "Hotdog, we've been going on dates for weeks. What did you think we were doing?" Reggie grinned unabashedly, and Julie triumphantly smirked back at Luke, who raised his hands in playful, apropos surrender. "I care about you, Alex," Willie continued, "so why wouldn't I want to be your boyfriend?"

Julie finished off Alex's braid and grabbed the maniacs not affiliated with the braid train to drag them away from Alex's gay panic.

"I just remembered, there's some fake flowers around back from the show yesterday! Come on Luke, Reggie, let's get some to put in our braids." She glared them into submission and closed the door behind them to let the ghost boyfriends have their moment.

By the time Reggie and Luke stopped complaining, Julie had already found the basket of flowers and headed back inside, only to see Alex and Willie-- were they cuddling? That's so adorable-- curled up together on the couch.

"Get a room!" called Luke once he came in.

Alex stuck his tongue out at him, saying "We had one until you barged in!"

"It's our garage, not yours, Alexander."

"And we brought the flowers!" broke in Reggie, bouncing slightly.

Willie stood up and picked out a few from the bundle with a 'thank you;' Alex must have finished his braid while they were outside. He strode back to his boyfriend (and wasn't it so much simpler to call it like it was instead of dancing around the word?) and tucked a pink rose behind Alex's ear. 

Julie grabbed some forget-me-nots and tucked them into Luke's delicate crown, who in turn took a zinnia to put in the middle of Reggie's braid.

The trade off continued with Reggie gifting them all daisies, Julie receiving a dahlia, and Alex braiding in a rainbow of mini tulips for Willie. 

They never did end up actually practicing, but cuddling with Luke, who was leaning against Reggie, who was joking with Alex, whose hand was entwined with Willie's: this was nice. More than nice. Julie's family was together, they were all happy, and everything made sense for at least the afternoon.


End file.
